The Heart of Thomas event at boys cafe Edelstein

10.12.2009 by Patrick W. Galbraith

The founder of Boys School Cafe Edelstein in Harajuku is a major fan of shonen ai works from the 1970s. In fact, she styled her cafe European to capture the setting where young beautiful boys fall in love with each other (and women can enjoy watching it). Both she and fellow fans can rejoice, as the boys of Hagio Moto's immortal classic "The Heart of Thomas" in the cafe for a special event January 10 to the 31st.













The event is to promote the 25th anniversary of Studio Life, who will be doing a stage performance of "The Heart of Thomas" from February 27 to March 22 at the Kinokuniya Hall in Shinjuku. The troupe is comprised of nothing but beautiful boys - like reverse Takarazuka.

The Edelstein event promises to be every bit as juicy. The "students" of the boys school will transfer to the "gymnasium" seen in Hagio's work. They will wear the uniforms of the imaginary school, talk about the goings on there with visitors (the customers) and serve special food that appears in the manga. Not only will the usual boys of Edelstein be present, but the actors from Studio Life will also appear on the floor as students at random times. Limited Studio Life goods (and perhaps "Thomas" goods?) will also be available.



The relatively small size of Edelstein is going to make getting entry into the event a serious competition. There are only 20 seats in the cafe, and 18 will be by reservation only. There are three time slots - lunch (10:00 to 14:00), cafe (14:00 to 17:30) and bar (18:00 to 22:00) - and each will likely have different appeals. Reservations will be taken at the website from December 26.